This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Electrical contacts in equipment such as communication devices subjected to exposure to conductive fluids such as seawater, chemicals, and including corrosive environments such as salt spray and fog and the like, herein collectively referred to as conductive/corrosive fluids, can suffer electrical contact degradation by electrolysis including galvanic corrosion between terminals, contacts, connecting pins and the like that are energized or connected to a current source (actively signaling or power supply). Exposure to conductive/corrosive fluids can rapidly oxidize the connectors. Active methods to obviate corrosion include manual disablement of the electrical interface. This method is not effective if the operator fails to disable the interface. Passive methods are known which further seal the terminal or pin areas which commonly include addition of covers, fasteners, seal members such as O-rings, and/or sealants. Access requirements to incorporate the fasteners, seal members or sealants however, can themselves introduce additional paths for the conductive/corrosive fluid entrance, and thus may exacerbate the corrosion problem.